Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Today's Teamster News 12.17.14

Teamster NewsMore Than 400 Sysco Workers in Atlanta Win Teamster Representation teamster.org ...Sysco workers have voted to join Teamsters Local 528 in Atlanta. With 423 workers in the bargaining unit, the vote for Teamster representation is the biggest at Sysco in years...Workers At Selland Auto Transport Vote To Join Teamsters Union teamster.org ...A group of about 240 drivers, owner-operators and shop employees at Selland Auto Transport have voted to join the Teamsters Union in California, Washington, Oregon, Montana and Utah. Ballots were counted today at the National Labor Relations Board in Seattle...National Labor Relations Board Rules In Favor Of Teamster School Bus Workers teamster.org ...School bus drivers and monitors in Santa Rosa County, Fla., who are members of Teamsters Local 991 in Mobile, Ala., have won another victory in a decision handed down by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) [which] orders the workers’ employer, Durham School Services, to “cease and desist” failing and refusing to recognize and bargain....Minnesota Attorney General Questions Sysco, US Foods Merger St. Louis Post Dispatch ...Minnesota's attorney general has expressed concern about the merger of food distribution giants Sysco Corp. and US Foods, saying it was questionable whether any divestiture could restore competition lost to the transaction...Teamsters, Consumers, Community To Protest UNFI Shareholders Meeting Morningstar Advisor ...On Wednesday, December 17, Teamsters, organic food consumers, supply chain workers and community members will protest the unsustainable practices of United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI) and its retail partner Whole Foods Market, at UNFI's annual shareholders meeting in Sacramento... Unionized Niles Police To Stay Teamsters Journal And Topics ...Rank and file Niles police officers will remain members of the Teamsters union after a vote of unionized police officers Thursday (Dec. 11)...Akron's Jobs For Sewers Program Packs The House WSKU ...Some 250 people showed up at a program on Akron’s east side that had expected to draw about half that many. “OK, guys. I’m from the Teamsters. Who’s got questions?’ And for the better part of the next two hours, the questions -- and answers – flew...Pension Fund Run By Wall Street Cited In Push To Cut Retiree Benefits International Business Times ...lawmakers have inserted language that would give private pension plans the power to cut benefits to thousands of current retirees whose pension savings were decimated by investment losses from the financial collapse of 2008...TradeHow “Citibank Budget” Push Foreshadows “Fast Track” For Trade Deals Campaign for America's Future ...After the budget, Congress’ will push to pass “fast track” legislation, to grease the skids for the TPP. Fast track trade promotion authority rigs the legislative process, essentially pre-approving “trade” deals like TPP before they are even finalized — before members of Congress even know what is in the treaties...'Fast Track' To Nowhere: Congress Shouldn't Give Obama Power To Ram Through TPP (opinion) Forbes ...The kumbaya trade agreement cheerleader crowd has convinced itself that 40 years of trade deficits don’t matter, even as the shrinkage of GDP growth has rendered the U.S. a dwindling superpower teetering on the brink of second class economy status...Bad Trade Huffington Post ...Under billions of tons of imports, the American dream is suffocating. The American people have lost faith. They know that bad trade has bled factories, middle class jobs and wage increases from the country...State BattlesSimpson County Approves Right to Work Ordinance WBKO ...5-0, a unanimous decision for Simpson County (Ky.) to become a right to work county, with four democratic magistrates voting for it...Simpson County falls in line with Warren and Fulton Counties having approved a right to work measure on the first reading...Audit: 1.7 million unemployment hotline calls blocked last year because lines were full Wisconsin State Journal …Nearly 1.7 million calls, or three out of five, to the state’s automated unemployment hotline were blocked last year because the system was too busy handling other calls, according to an audit released Tuesday....Secretive groups ran $25M in ads for state races Associated Press ...Shadowy outside groups broadcast an estimated $25 million worth of political ads on local TV stations with a goal of shaping state-level elections this year, and their full roster of donors is unlikely to ever be known, according to an analysis released Wednesday...Mayor Vows Veto Of Minimum Wage Hike To $10.10 Louisville Courier Journal ...Just hours after a Metro Council committee backed a plan to raise the local minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, Mayor Greg Fischer promised to veto it...War on WorkersWal-Mart must pay $188 million in workers' class action Reuters … The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered Wal-Mart Stores Inc to pay $188 million to employees who had sued the retailer for failing to compensate them for rest breaks and all hours worked...Southwest Airlines employees protest work conditions, delays Indianapolis Star ...As Southwest Airlines on Wednesday prepares to announce new departures from Indianapolis, its baggage handlers are contending that increased flights are causing unprecedented delays and overworked employees...Patriot coal worker dies in Kentucky mine after hit by vehicle Mineweb ...A worker was killed today in a Kentucky mine owned by Patriot Coal Co., the company’s third such fatality this year...MiscellaneousDavid Koch: I'm not an evil billionaire, I'm socially liberal! Ring of Fire …… Their critics say David Koch and his brother are responsible for secretly financing the tea party, polluting the environment, funding candidates who deny climate change, and buying elections with buckets of dough.”...Foreign lobbying oversight found lax Politico …Lobbyists working on behalf of foreign interests regularly evade laws that require registration and disclosure of their activities, a new report charges, and the Justice Department lets many violations slide...